South Dakota Drug Use at an All-Time High

The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe may have decided to temporarily suspend its marijuana cultivation and distribution facilities, and destroyed its crop. But drug use in the state is still at an all time high!

There were 1300 drug arrests last year alone in Pennington County according to the Pennington County Sheriff's Office, that's up 19 percent compared to the previous year.

Conversely, in Sioux Falls, there were 1779 total narcotic arrests in 2014. 1469 were adults. 310 were juveniles.

More and more people are turning to drugs to help cope with with depression, anxiety, sadness, and grief, instead of learning how to work through these type of issues themselves or relying on the support of others.

Experts are finding that often times marijuana ends up being a gateway to harder drugs.

According to Michelle McIntosh with City County Alcohol and Drugs, "Everyone that we see come through has had or is using harder drugs, has used marijuana and it's part of their regiment that they are involved with."

The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, which planned to open a marijuana lounge on New Year’s Eve, was the first tribe in South Dakota to legalize the drug after U.S. officials suggested they were permitted to do so in a memo released last year.

On Saturday, November 7, 2015 the Santee Sioux Tribe decided to suddenly suspend its marijuana operations after fears of a possible drug raid by federal authorities.

According to Flandreau Santee Sioux President Anthony Reider, the main holdup stems from whether they can legally sell marijuana to non-Indians.

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has warned that non-indians would still be breaking the law if these choose to smoke pot on the reservation.

Jackley plans further discussions with the tribe on how to move forward with the marijuana cultivation and distribution issue. Those talks could begin as early as this week.

Source: KDLT / KEVN